Two astronauts bound for the international space station had to abort their mission and had to re-enter the earth atmosphere for an emergency landing after the booster of their rocket malfunctioned. The spacecraft, carrying cosmonaut Alexey Ovchining and NASA’s Nick Hague started their journey to the ISS from a launchpad in Russia by a Russian Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft. They were expected to reach ISS after a six hour journey around the earth. But they were unable to reach the orbit because of a booster malfunction and had to make an emergency re-entry through a mode called ballistic re-entry, where the space craft hit the earth atmosphere in a more sharper angle than normal. The capsule had reportedly landed in eastern Kazakhstan.
A while ago NASA reported that the search and rescue teams have reached the two astronauts and they said to be out of their capsule and in good condition. The team is now on their way to Moscow, where they will hold a press conference. For more live updates stay with the NASA live telecast below.
